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=                     The_Clan_of_the_Cave_Bear                      =
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                            Introduction
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'The Clan of the Cave Bear' is a 1980 work of prehistoric fiction by
Jean M. Auel about prehistoric times.  It is the first novel in the
'Earth's Children' book series, which speculates on the possibilities
of interactions between Neanderthal and modern Cro-Magnon humans.


                              Setting
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The novel references the advance of the polar ice sheets, setting the
story 18,000 years BCE, when the farthest southern encroachment of the
last glacial period of the current ice age occurred. Auel's
time-frame, sometime between 28,000 and 25,000 BCE, corresponds
generally with archaeological estimates of the Neanderthal branch of
humankind disappearing.


                               Plots
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A five-year-old girl, Ayla, who readers come to understand is
Cro-Magnon, is orphaned and left homeless by an earthquake that
destroys her family's camp. She wanders naked and unable to feed
herself, for several days. She is attacked and nearly killed by a cave
lion, and, suffering from starvation, exhaustion, and infection of her
wounds, she collapses, on the verge of death.

The narrative switches to a group of people who call themselves "Clan"
and who the reader comes to understand are Neanderthal. Their cave was
destroyed in the earthquake, and they are searching for a new home.
The medicine woman of the group, Iza, discovers Ayla and asks
permission from her brother Brun, the Clan leader, to help her,
despite the child being clearly a member of "the Others," the
distrusted antagonists of the Clan. The child is adopted by Iza and
her eldest brother Creb. Creb is the group's "Mog-ur" or shaman,
despite being deformed as a result of a difficult birth caused by his
abnormally large head, and the later loss of an arm and eye after
being attacked by a cave bear. The Clan worships spiritual
representations of Earthly animals, called totems, that they believe
can influence their lives by sending good or bad luck, and for whom
Mog-ur acts as an intermediary. Brun allows Iza to treat the dying
child and agrees to adopt her providing Creb can discover her personal
totem spirit.

Through meditation, Creb comes to believe that the child may be
protected by the spirit of the cave lion, a powerful totem never given
to a woman and only to very few men. He cites the cave lion attack the
girl experienced shortly before being discovered as proof that its
spirit marked her so that she could be adopted into the Clan. The girl
travels with them for a while and starts to heal. When the group stops
to discuss what they should do since they have not found a new home,
Ayla wanders and discovers a huge, beautiful cave, perfect for their
needs. Many of the people begin to regard Ayla as lucky, especially
since good fortune continues to come their way as she lives among
them.

In Auel's books, Neanderthals possess only limited vocal apparatus and
rarely speak; however, they have a highly developed sign language.
They do not laugh or even smile, and they do not cry; when Ayla weeps,
Iza thinks she has an eye disease. They also mature very early - to
the point a person in their 20s and 30s is considered old and they
become pubescent at around 7-9 years old with few maturing at 10 years
old. Very soon after, they are given a mate and have children. Iza was
considered to have a geriatic pregnancy when she was nearly twenty and
had stumbled upon Ayla.

Ayla's different thought processes lead her to break important Clan
customs, particularly the taboo against females handling weapons. She
is self-willed and spirited, but she tries to fit in with the
Neanderthals, although she has to learn everything first-hand; she
does not possess the ancestral memories of the Clan that enable them
to do certain tasks after being shown only once.

Iza is concerned that when Ayla grows up, nobody will want her as
their mate as she is very ugly to the Neaderthal, making her a burden
to the group. She therefore trains Ayla as a medicine woman of her
line, the most prestigious line of medicine women of the entire Clan.
This will give Ayla her own status, independent of whether or not she
is mated. It takes Iza much longer to train Ayla than it will her own
daughter, Uba, since Ayla does not possess the memories of the Clan.

Ayla's main antagonist in the novel is Broud, son of the leader Brun,
who feels that she takes credit and attention away from him. As the
two mature, the hatred in Broud's heart festers. When they are young
adults, he brutally rapes Ayla in a bid to demonstrate his total
control over her; he continues to sexually assault her multiple times
a day. She sinks into depression that leaves her despondent and
uninterested, and she becomes pregnant soon after at the age of
approximately 11 years old. Iza explains to Ayla that her unattractive
appearance compared to a Clan woman will likely preclude her from
obtaining a mate before she gives birth -- a circumstance Iza's people
believe will bring the group bad luck. Having dreamed of being a
mother for most of her life and convinced that this may be her only
chance due to her powerful totem, Ayla refuses Iza's suggestion that
she take medicine to abort the child. Following a difficult pregnancy
and a near-fatal labor, Ayla rejoices in the birth of her son Durc,
but because he has a number of Cro-Magnon features, he is classified
by the Clan as deformed and is almost taken away from her, but after
much pleading and convincing, Ayla is allowed to stay in the Clan and
keep her son Durc.

Iza becomes extremely unwell due to her chronic illness; at her
deathbed, she was just past 26 with white hair, gaunt frame and
wrinkled skin.

The book ends with Broud's succession of Brun to leadership and Goov's
succession of Creb as mog-ur. Broud orders Goov to place an immediate
death-curse on Ayla. Another earthquake then happens, killing Creb.
Ayla sets off to find other people of her own kind. Durc remains with
the tribe under the protection of Brun who admonishes Broud and
regrets his decision to make him leader.


                              Sequels
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The sequel, 'The Valley of Horses', continues Ayla's story, which is
further developed in the four other books of the Earth's Children
series: 'The Mammoth Hunters', 'The Plains of Passage', 'The Shelters
of Stone', and 'The Land of Painted Caves'.


                             Background
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The archaeological and paleontological research for this book was
carried out by Auel from her public library, by attending
archaeological conventions, and touring extensively on sites with
briefings by working field archaeologists. Some of the descriptions
are based on the first adult Neanderthal skeletons found in Iraq from
the cave burial at Shanidar, dating between 60-80,000 years BP. Other
data is clearly linked to the widespread Aurignacian culture and
Gravettian culture, and their tell-tale Venus figurines, which Auel
uses as one center of her Cro-Magnon religious practices.


                  Film and television adaptations
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In 1986, the novel was adapted into a film directed by Michael Chapman
and starring Daryl Hannah.

In 2014, the Lifetime television network ordered a pilot episode,
based on the series of novels. Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Jean M. Auel,
and Linda Woolverton are executive producers, with Woolverton writing
the teleplay. The launch was slated for some time in 2015.

Despite reports of plans to shoot a pilot for a series to have started
in 2016, with Ireland as one location, this plan was canceled by
Lifetime and has been shopped around to various networks with no luck.
It is presumed to be dead, as of March 2016.


                              See also
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* 'The Clan of the Cave Bear' (film)
* Earth's Children (novel series)
* Use of animals during the Gravettian period
* Aurignacian culture
* Gravettian culture
* Neanderthal extinction hypotheses
* The Inheritors
* Venus figurines


                           External links
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* [http://www.jeanauel.com Jean M. Auel Official web site]
*
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40611463-the-clan-of-the-cave-bear
'The Clan of the Cave Bear'] at Goodreads
* [http://www.mansionbooks.com/BookDetail.php?bk=246 Photos of the
first edition of The Clan of the Cave Bear]


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